1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adapter plate for coupling a camera to a tripod and, in particular, to an adapter plate which allows a camera to be readily coupled to either a tripod or a device for rotatably mounting a camera on a person.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,980,771 which issued to Chamberlayne on Jul. 19, 2011, and the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a device for rotatably mounting a camera on a person. The device comprises a female connector and a male connector. The female connector has a U-shaped slot defined by a pocket and a pair of opposed channels which extend from the pocket. The male connector has a plate and a truncated cylindrical body mounted on the plate. The plate is slidably received by the U-shaped slot of the female connector and rotatable through 360 degrees within the pocket of the female connector. The truncated cylindrical body of the male connector is provided with a flat edge and extends from the male connector. The threaded member is for engaging a threaded female tripod receiver of the camera. A strap assembly is connected to the female connector. The strap assembly is for mounting the device to the person. The plate of the male connector has a first rotatable position within the pocket of the female connector in which the male connector is secured to the female connector, and a second rotatable position within the pocket of the female connector in which the male connector is releasable from the female connector. The male connector can only be received or released from the U-shaped slot of the female connector when the flat edge of the truncated cylindrical body of the male connector is aligned with one of the opposed channels of the female connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,075,202 issued on Dec. 13, 2011 by Chamberlayne, and the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a device for rotatably mounting a camera on a person. The device comprises a female connector and a male connector. The female connector has a U-shaped slot defined by a pocket and a pair of opposed channels which extend from the pocket. The male connector has a wedge-shaped base, a plate spaced-apart from the base, and an opening extending through the wedge-shaped base and the plate. The plate is slidably received by the U-shaped slot of the female connector and is rotatable through 360 degrees within the pocket of the female connector. A threaded member extends through the opening in the male connector. The threaded member is for engaging a threaded tripod receiver of the camera. A strap assembly is connected to the female connector. The strap assembly is for mounting the device on the person. The plate of the male connector has a first rotatable position within the pocket of the female connector in which the male connector is secured to the female connector, and a second rotatable position within the pocket of the female connector in which the male connector is releasable from the female connector. The wedge-shaped base of the male connector has a slope of between 5° and 25° and preferably a slope of 15°. This slope of the wedge-shaped base prevents free cantilevering of the camera. This also reduces stress on both the device and the camera.
Both of the above-mentioned prior art devices require that the threaded member engage the female tripod receiver of the camera in order to couple the male connector to the camera. It is therefore generally not possible to couple the camera to a tripod when the male connector is coupled to the camera